CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. John Garamendi"

Interview

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KEILAR: All right, David Chalian, thank you so much for your analysis. And joining me now is Democratic Congressman John Garamendi of

California. He serves on the Armed Services Committee.

Thanks for being with us, sir.

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Good to be with you, Brianna.

KEILAR: So, the president -- something else he said today.

He once again claimed that American Jews who support the Democratic Party are -- quote -- "very disloyal to Israel and the Jewish people."

What is your reaction to that?

GARAMENDI: Well, it's much more than that, Brianna.

If this man was out on the street without the Secret Service around him, some policeman would arrest him and put him on a 72-hour hold. Anybody walking down the street that claims that they're messianic, that they're the chosen one, and then all the ranting that you just had, and much, much more, no, that's the subject matter for a 72-hour psychological hold in some -- one of the mental institutions.

[18:10:18]

We got a very serious problem here. We got a president that is unhinged, that cannot handle himself. We have got a president that has displayed narcissism from the very first day of his campaign and extreme racism, taking on Mexicans, as he did, at his very first moment of his campaign, and then continuing on.

For him to claim that he didn't have -- that he's the one that brought the families back together, his mind isn't working properly. And that is a very, very scary proposition for the president of the United States, the most powerful single person in the world.

And then, with regard to Putin, here we go again.

KEILAR: When he...

GARAMENDI: Putin is his favorite person.

KEILAR: When he talks like that about Israel and about Democratic voters, does he put the U.S.-Israel relationship at risk by politicizing Israel this way?

GARAMENDI: Absolutely. There's no doubt.

But let me make it very, very clear that the Democratic Party, from the very, very first, starting with Harry Truman, has been a strong, consistent supporter of Israel.

From time to time, Democrats, sometimes, the president, sometimes individual, members of Congress, as well as Democrats who are Jewish, have disagreed with the policies of the Jewish government. And that's perfectly legitimate over time. But the Democrats, taken as a whole, have consistently, year in and

year out, issue after issue, stood with Israel. They are our principal ally in an extremely dangerous region.

And for the president to purposely try to divide the support of Israel between Democrats and Republicans, and to suggest that you're -- that Jews would be disloyal that vote for a Democrat, I don't think that's going to sell well with the Jewish population.

KEILAR: I want to talk now about how the president canceled his trip to Denmark after the Danish prime minister called his idea to buy Greenland absurd.

This visit was supposed to include discussion about security issues.

GARAMENDI: Yes.

KEILAR: Denmark provides key intelligence to the United States.

GARAMENDI: Yes.

KEILAR: Denmark has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in conflicts overseas.

GARAMENDI: Yes.

KEILAR: Denmark has lost soldiers along with American soldiers.

Does this hurt U.S. national security that he is not going and that he's treating Denmark this way?

GARAMENDI: It's just one more thing.

Think back. From his very earliest days, the president has dismissed, discouraged and otherwise trashed NATO, trashed our allies in Europe, worked very, very hard to break up the European Union, the current Brexit, as well as his support for others that are not positive on the European Union.

The strong alliances, Denmark and others, are absolutely crucial, not only to the defense of Europe, but for the defense of America. And you're quite correct. Danish troops have lost their lives side by side with Americans in countries around the world.

And they will continue to do so, one more example of a president that is simply unhinged. It's all about him. It's all about his personal standard, at least in his own eyes.

If you listen carefully to what he said about the prime minister and about the -- about her comments, it was a -- he took it as a personal affront to himself, and then expanded it to America.

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KEILAR: And he expanded it to NATO.

So I wonder what you think. How do other allies see that? He's using this as a jumping off point to attack NATO.

GARAMENDI: Yes. Well, exactly right.

There are many congressional delegations -- I have done a couple of them -- to the NATO countries. I will do another one this fall, going to the NATO countries. A good portion of the work that I will do as chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee is to check out the various facilities, the troops over there, are they ready and so forth.

But the more important part of what I and other Congress members and senators do is to really be the diplomats, to talk to the NATO countries, to tell them that the Congress of the United States and Americans stand firmly with NATO, regardless of what this crazy president has been doing and saying.

We're there. We -- this country is there with NATO. And we met that -- we make that message every time we go to a NATO country or to the European countries that are not in NATO at the present time.

It is a real serious problem. We get it from the top political leaders in those countries there that shake their heads, and: What's going on? And the answer is this, too, must pass. Yes, we're going to have to tough it out for the next 18 months, but this man has got to go.

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KEILAR: The president made a case again for Russia to rejoin the G7, to reconstitute the G8.

GARAMENDI: Yes.

KEILAR: What would it take? I mean, I think there's bipartisan agreement that Russia hasn't done what it needs to do to regain that standing.

But what would it take for Russia to do to regain that standing?

GARAMENDI: Well, first of all, we need a president that knows what the history is.

We need a president that knows that it was Putin, it was Russia that stole Crimea from the Ukraine and inserted their little green men, with all of the heavy armaments of the Russian military, into the Eastern Ukraine, a situation that is today unresolved.

Literally, Russia, using a surrogate force, what we call little green men, actually not little, and -- has tried to invade the Ukraine. They have -- that has to be resolved before Russia should ever be allowed back into the G8.

Yes, they are an important country, but you cannot reward that kind of invasion, a real invasion, by Russia or any other country by inviting them back. Once again, the American public needs to look at this president and

say, what is it that has so infatuated him with Putin? What does Russia have on this man? What's going on here? We may never know that answer.

But what we do know is that this man, the president of the United States, is not fit to serve this nation's long-term, as well as its short-term interests.

KEILAR: Congressman John Garamendi, thank you so much for coming on.

GARAMENDI: Good to be with you.

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